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Debt Crisis

In a telling sign of the mainland's mounting local government debt crisis, some towns in Dongguan - one of the richest cities - are being forced to suspend free public services and infrastructure projects.

"The police bent my arms back while asking who my husband was and what he did for a living," a woman in her 60s recalls as she describes a scary scene that unfolded at her home last month. "If I had not been carrying my grandson on my back, they would have brought me to the police station."

Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was famously warned by a seer about the Ides of March, traditionally March 15. On that date this year, banks in Cyprus closed their doors to allow politicians time to decide how to raise €5.8 billion (HK$58 billion) so the country could qualify for a €10 billion bailout from the rest of the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund.

A debt-ridden Japanese city is offering to rename itself after the highest bidder, an official said yesterday.

Izumisano, in the western prefecture of Osaka, owes its creditors well over 100 billion yen (HK$9.7 billion), the official said, adding the presence of nearby Kansai International Airport was partly to blame.

World finance leaders expressed cautious optimism on Saturday that Europe is making progress towards containing its debt crisis but said it was critical for all advanced economies to step up the pace of policy reforms to rebuild confidence.

An unprecedented clear-out is now under way in Athens after the government announced it will sell anything it can do without - and in this debt-choked nation that means letting go of islands, royal palaces, prime real estate, marinas, airports, roads, the state-owned gas company, lottery and post office. Indeed anything, really, that can be sold.

It is ironic that at a time when we need leadership from our policymakers, they are unable to give us any. They are paid the big bucks for the big decisions but are taking the money and hiding. We are in a period of policymaker paralysis.